About

Hi, I'm Dwight – and welcome to Absorbing Life.

This site is a reflection of my journey through all things digestive, shaped by one major turning point: an ileocecal bowel resection in 2020. That surgery – and the gut challenges that followed – changed my life, my routines, and my relationship with my body.

We all have a gut. A tireless, steadfast system that fuels and supports us at every moment. And when it stops working smoothly, everything else can feel harder.

I live in Australia, but gut issues don't care about geography. If you’ve had (or are preparing for) a bowel resection, this site is especially for you – wherever you call home.

The backstory – an unwelcome guest

In May 2020, a large mass was discovered in my abdomen: a desmoid tumour, the size of an orange. This unwelcome guest – which I affectionately termed my alien – and its dramatic eviction would turn my life (and my gut) upside down.

In August that year, it was removed through surgery that took out 80cm of small bowel and my ileocecal valve, leaving me a lot to recover from.

My time in hospital and my convalescence in the months after were no small thing to go through. I understand how scary this process can be, and I started this blog with a desire to help people who are either going through this – or have had surgery already – understand their gut better and find strategies that work for them.

A new (digestive) path – life after resection

Undergoing a resection was full with uncertainty, both in terms of what to expect as outcome from the actual surgery (they couldn't know the full story until they went in), and how it would impact my life long term. My new resected bowel had a lot of surprises in store for me, and I had to discover ways to meet the challenges it threw at me.

Through pain, discomfort, surprising and urgent bowel movements, and more diarrhoea than you can poke a stick at (ew), I slowly figured out what worked for me – including more urgent McDonalds toilet stops than I care to count.

Beyond the medical system

The medical system here in Australia is amazing. I am incredibly grateful to have received this surgery at no personal cost (apart from seeing my surgeon), thanks to Medicare and the public hospital system. We are truly blessed to have such support here in Australia – we must fight to protect it.

But no system covers every base. The post-surgery hospital food did nothing to support my healing gut, and no one seemed focused on digestion-friendly meals. The surgeon didn't think malabsorption would be an issue, but it was. I had to discover and manage these – and more – on my own.

Research into the gut microbiome is ongoing, and exciting new discoveries are happening all the time. We continue to reaffirm how vital this system is to our overall health. I strongly encourage anyone to spend some time learning how they can best support it, and I hope that this site can be a resource in your toolkit in finding optimal gut health – particularly after bowel resection surgery.

Where did the name 'Absorbing Life' come from?

I brainstormed some ideas for this blog, considering what I wanted it to be, how I wanted to tell my story, and how best to share the knowledge I have gained to support a functioning post-resection gut.

'Absorbing Life' refers to both the digestive process of nutrient absorption, and the perspectives I tend to have on life overall – that we are always learning, always growing, and always changing our perspective based on our experiences. We absorb all that happens to us, and it helps inform who we are and who we want to become.

I have an optimistic view on life: I believe there is always a positive to glean from any occurrence, even events that feel like the worst, darkest thing imaginable. That may not be immediately apparent, and it may take us some time to see the good in it, but with this view I have been able to, ahem, absorb the difficult experiences – as well as the beautiful ones – and cultivate gratitude for the life I have.

Subscribe for more

I send out an email roughly once a month, with updates and reflections from life post-resection.

Join the list and I’ll send you a free copy of My Post-Surgery Gut Toolkit – a short guide to the things that have helped me live my best new-gut-normal life.

Where to from here?

Check out My Toolkit, read My Story, or peruse the blog posts on many topics covered since this site began.

It's great to have you here. I hope you find the content here helpful and easy to, err... digest ;)